Some bosses face problem of foreign workers who job-hop
By
Melissa Sim & Goh Yi Han
Mr Xu Yuecheng (left) and Mr Li Ai Dong are among 25 China workers who had salary issues with construction firm Xuyi. The pair are taking it up in MOM's labour court. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
SOME employers of foreign workers say they are grappling with a problem of job-hopping China workers.
Three out of five employers contacted by The Straits Times said they had workers who got themselves released from their contracts by claiming they had not been paid.
The Xuyi case
EARLIER this year 25 workers from Xuyi Building Engineering sought help from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), claiming they had not been paid on time and were owed up to three months' pay.
Most had been with the company for about a year. They said contractual issues prevented them from leaving their jobs, such as having to compensate the company for terminating their contracts early.
The workers then went home, only to return to Singapore soon after to work for other companies.
The employers interviewed said that China workers were more likely than other foreigners to try to end their work contracts early in order to take up new job offers.
'Some of my workers have seen their ex-colleagues on the streets here barely a month after they settled their claims with us and went back to China,' said a contractor who did not want to be named.
Job-hopping by work permit holders is frowned on by the Manpower Ministry (MOM), which said last Friday that 'workers should not breach their contractual obligations and then turn to MOM in a bid to overturn those obligations, claim extra monies from their employer and job-hop to another employer in Singapore'.
The employers accused other companies here of poaching their workers brazenly, with offers of bigger pay.
For example, some offer to pay $8 per hour, twice what the workers earn, said one contractor. China workers tend to earn slightly over $1,000 a month, including overtime.
Some companies' poaching efforts are said to include going to workers' dormitories to distribute flyers advertising better pay or work conditions.
The director of one company claimed that more than 20 of her workers were poached last year.
Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.
